Armed and Dangerous
by the author formerly known as
Summary: Bella Swan's deepest, darkest fantasies are something she never thought would actually come true. Of course, getting what you wish for comes at a certain price, one she may not be ready to handle. EdwardBella All Human, "Darkward" COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: character death, violence, suicide. This piece is not actually a fanfiction in that I wrote an original piece but had nowhere to share it soooo I changed the names and uploaded it to **

Part I.

"So, anyways," Jasper said, sipping at his cappuccino delicately, "I ran into this guy at the book store."

Alice, next to Bella in the uncomfortable, plastic booth seat, giggled. She leaned across the table towards Jasper. "And you..."

"Alice!" Jasper exclaimed, tossing his hands out before him as if to stop crime. The heavy smell of almond and tobacco and leather that she always associated with Jasper drifted toward her as he moved his hands. "Would you let me tell the story? Stop trying to rush to the good parts!"

He winked. "And believe me, there are good parts."

Bella rolled her eyes as Alice and Jasper continued their banter, watching the news on the TV over Jasper's shoulder. She couldn't bring herself to care about Jasper's trivial Saturday night- imaginary or real. She couldn't make herself care about anything nowadays. Not for a few years, in fact. Not since what happened.

"...I will clarify, though, that _he_ was definitely the one flirting with me..."

Jasper wasn't gay.

"Jasper! Skip the boring stuff, come on!"

He pretended he was because it made him look sensitive and artsy, and Alice was was into guys like that. Someday he planned to let her know that he was so emotionally infatuated with her that it didn't even matter to him she wasn't a guy. He would tell her that he loved her for her soul- not her body.

"So, what was this guy's name... or did you catch it at all? Oh, Jasper, not again!"

Everyone but Alice knew it. Bella couldn't blame Alice. Jasper had so completely immersed himself in pretending to be gay since they'd left high school, when Alice's thing for the artsy type became apparent, that she almost believed it herself.

Bella turned her attention to her blond friend, taking in his blue wool coat and dark wash jeans, both of which looked ridiculously expensive. The white shirt underneath attested to a perfectly honed, simple fashion sense. He was shrugging, rolling his eyes upward as if he was thanking God, looking to the Heavens, but probably he was just checking to see if his hair was sticking up where he'd jammed his designer sunglasses onto his head. "God, his body was so freaking hot!"

Alice giggled insatiably. She loved Jasper's boy on boy stories. Bella looked away again, her lips pouting against her will.

They weren't dating, but Jasper and Alice always looked so happy together. They were _perfect _for each other. She wanted that. She wanted to go backwards in time, to find herself five years in the past and unbelievably blessed. Bella's thoughts drifted ever further from the coffee shop and closer to her fantasies... but nothing could stop her from hearing the news anchor's cool voice as she related their next story.

"...mass murderer Edward Cullen has just escaped from..." For a moment Bella's ears were filled with a gentle hum like a thousand purring engines. But the world snapped back into focus and she stared, fascinated, over Jasper's shoulder and at the television. "Authorities say he's been spotted by several heading north. Highways are blocked..."

When Edward Cullen was 23, he bit the face off a prison guard.

"...image of the suspect here. Police are urging anyone who sees him to keep their distance and to report it immediately."

When he was 22, he was arrested after being in hiding for almost a year. At 20, he was found guilty of 53 counts of murder. Edward was 19 when he was raped and tortured, sending him into the unchanging, unrelenting whirlwind of insanity that made him do the horrible things he did.

"...is considered to be _armed and dangerous_..."

And when Edward was 18, he'd asked Bella to marry him.

Lately, all of Bella's deepest, darkest desires involved the words armed and dangerous- and featured an escaped, passionate Edward in her bedroom. His face appeared once more on the screen, gaunt and angry, and Bella felt herself gasp. She wasn't shocked or scared at the change- the strange, desperate look on that familiar face. It wasn't that sort of gasp.

Bella hadn't been with a man since Edward had disappeared from her life- although he could never truly be gone from her thoughts. So it wasn't her fault that it only took one look at his picture to make her practically cream her jeans.

"Bella?"

It was Jasper's husky, low voice- which meant he was concerned enough to momentarily drop the gay facade, even with Alice so close. Jasper always had been a good friend to Bella- maybe, in some ways, even more than Alice. He always knew just what to say to make a person feel better. His very presence had a calming effect. He could also always tell exactly what she was feeling. Wondering what she would ever do if something happened to Jasper- what she would _ever_ do without him- at the same time as she wished he would just butt out, Bella looked at him feeling like a deer caught in the headlights. He raised an eyebrow and turned, glancing at the TV behind him, and Bella saw Alice follow his gaze with her eyes.

"Oh, Bella," she murmured, turning to her friend with sympathy. "Don't look so... Sweetie, he's a waste of your time."

"Alice!" Bella cried. "He's your brother! How can you say that?"

"Bella, he's my brother, and I do love him, despite... I will always care for him, but not as someone for you."

She found herself turning desperately to Jasper, knowing it was useless. Jasper and Edward had been best friends, along with Edward's older brother Emmett. The three of them were inseparable. But Jasper and Emmett had always agreed with Alice. Every one of them had.

"You need to move on, Bella," Jasper told her, and then his eyes flickered down to his drink, avoiding hers. He muttered, "He's a psycho."

She knew she was being irrational. He was, he was.

A psycho. She snatched up her purse, stomping angrily from the little coffee shop. She tripped over the threshold, and ignored Alice's voice calling after her. She didn't even care.

He was _her_ psycho, if he had to be one at all. Bella knew she would never stop loving him. Never stop wanting him. She didn't care that Edward had done bad things, that he had killed. It wasn't his fault. After all the things that had happened to him, all Bella wanted was to comfort him. To show him that _she_, at least, would always be there for him. It didn't matter that- as Emmett put it- if Edward ever found her again, he would probably just leave her bleeding.

Besides, Bella didn't think that was true. She knew that he loved her just as much as she did him. He _loved_ her. They were meant for each other.

Bella's Edward would never hurt her.


	2. Chapter 2

Part II.

Water sloshed out of the full tub as she shifted slightly. By now her relaxing, hot bath had turned cold, and her skin felt elastic and heavy. But she couldn't seem to bring herself to move. The silence of the house had lulled her into something of a trance, the gentle ticking of the clock a sort of lullaby. Bella hated to know that even more time passed and she wasn't in Edward's arms, but tonight the clock seemed to be the only thing keeping her firmly latched onto the world of sanity. She kept remembering the anchor woman saying that Edward was headed north.

She was north of the prison that Edward had just escaped from. Bella would lose herself in another vivid fantasy, letting the water overflow as she sank in deeper– only to be awakened from a half sleep by that distant ticking. Time moved forward. _You should, too_. That's what Jasper would say.

The clock kept ticking, and water was dripping constantly off the sides of the tub, gentle, monotonous noises with no foreseeable break in the pattern. Bella's heart had fallen into a steady rhythm. Her eyelids were closing, drooping more and more with each passing second.

The phone rang.

Bella turned her head, sluggishly, to look down the hall. She stared and with each shrill noise her heart beat another time. Tick tock, ring badunk. She heard her answering machine come on, and Alice's voice, crackly with distance and something else Bella couldn't pin, washed over her.

"Bella, hey? It's Alice, um... Pick up the phone, Bella, I know you've got to be home... Ugh, well I was gonna ask you to go shopping, I really need something to take my mind off of..."

Bella already knew what Alice was talking about.

"I mean, I just can't believe he asked me! It was such a shock!"

Ok, so maybe she didn't know.

"I just adore Jasper, but I don't know, I always thought he was exclusively into guys!"

Ah, yes.

"...Bella? Bella, I think I'm gonna say yes. If Jasper likes me enough to turn _straight_ for me, the relationship has got to be worth it, huh?"

Bella's machine started to beep. Messages could only be so long.

"But... One more night of partying, before I leave the single life! Jeez, Bella, I wish you could come. Call me if you decide to, kay? I'll have my pho-"

The message was cut off, and Bella sank back into the tub. She reached up to push her hair out of her face, staring into the mirror across the room. She smiled, but it looked forced, even to her; there was no way Bella could go anywhere with Alice tonight. She got up slowly, walking with aching bones to pick up her towel, and shivering against the air. Cold water dripped down between her breasts, and she quickly wiped herself off with the fluffy wrap, rushing down the hall to her bedroom.

She grabbed a random set of undergarments out of her drawer, not bothering with pyjamas. She had her blankets in the dryer, not because they were wet, but just to make them warm for her. Of course, now that they'd been sitting there for so long- Bella threw a look at the clock hanging in the hallway just outside her bedroom; 11:37- they might have lost the heat. She hoped not.

Warmth, at night, reminded Bella of sleeping in Edward's arms, back when he was still sneaking in through her bedroom window at night- instead of breaking forcibly out of prison ones.

She gathered them out of the machine now, glad that they were still at least a little bit heated, and while her feet padded down the hall, the phone rang again. She stood by it in indecision. If it was Alice, she didn't want to talk. Bella sighed, and stepped softly back into the bedroom, crawling into bed and pressing her face into the pillow. She put her hand underneath her cheek, pretending the skin she felt by her face was Edward's. The phone rang, and she glared at the doorway.

"Bella?"

It wasn't Alice this time, but it was still one of them. The only people in the world who should understand, who _could_ understand- but didn't. Why was it that his own siblings seemed to hate Bella for loving him?

"Hey, it's Emmett. Jeez, this is my unlucky night I guess. I can't talk to Jasper, Alice is out doing whatever, and you're already asleep."

Yeah right. She should be so lucky. The clock ticked. Emmett filled the house with his human megaphone voice, even over the phone.

"Ugh, whatever, I know Jasper won't be talking to me tomorrow and Alice is gonna be hungover, call me, Bella, _please?_ I just- Rose and I got in this massive fight, she's gone to live with her dear twin brother, _my best friend_, and he's all angry at me even though- I think I'm safe in this- it definitely wasn't my fault this time. Bella, I'm lonely." She could picture him doing his pout on the other end, a giant teddy bear who was for once unsmiling. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye."

Bella shut her eyes in relief, ready for sleep to overtake her.

The house's relative quietness after Emmett's vocal intrusion seemed ominous, though. Every click of the clock's hands was like an explosion, or like a tree falling in a silent forest.

Or maybe it was just like the clock hand it was, bringing her ever closer to the future- whatever it might hold.


	3. Chapter 3

Part III.

Bella couldn't sleep. The bed was warm. Her mind was blank. The house was silent, except: the clock on the wall ticked.

It was a gentle sound, but she kept waiting for something else to happen- another layer to the beat was yet to be added, she could feel it. There. There it was. A soft rapping noise. Steady at first. Soon it became louder, and faster, until it was a wicked banging against the stacatto clicking of her wall click.

More quickly than it had started, it stopped- the whole house seemed to be holding its breath. The clock ticked once.

Then she heard it: "Bella!"

The muffled voice was coming from her window. She rose slowly, knowing her appearance may have been that of a zombie rising from its tomb. Or a vampire, perhaps. Her neck craned slowly to the side, and she stared in awe at the glass pane, her eyes wide. The figure leaning on the railing of her tiny balcony licked his lips, green eyes pleading, and said, though she could just barely hear it, "Hey, let me in, it's cold out here."

Bella pushed the thick comforter off of her and moved to stand, pulling the satin sheet with her. It whispered around her legs as she stepped over it, dazed and open mouthed.

"Edward," she murmured, too quiet for anyone but her to hear, and she pressed her palm to the glass, gasping at its cool smoothness. This fantasy was realer than the others, she thought. Then she realized there was a reason for that.

She wanted to go to the past so bad, Bella usually imagined Edward the way he had been- healthy, smiling, clean, and boyish. This Edward smiled crookedly and handsomely, the same way the other Edward did. And he was clean. But healthy? No. He was thin, his skin didn't glow, the bags under his eyes were dark and thick. He was older, much older than the 19 year old boy she'd last had standing in front of her. Five full years older, she reminded herself. That's how long its been since he's held you.

Bella reached forward and tore open the window. Edward dove in, rolling to his feet and shutting it swiftly with a loud, final sound. His hand rested on top of the shutter. He still towered over Bella, and he looked down at her with an intense gaze.

A familiar smell washed over Bella, thick and sweet, but it wasn't the way she remembered Edward smelling. She glanced at his clothes, the navy wool jacket, designer jeans, simple white button-up shirt. He definitely hadn't left prison wearing this.

The room was silent except for her breathing, and always, always, the clock. Ticking life away. But it didn't matter how much time passed anymore. Not now that he was here to watch it pass with her.

"You didn't have to get dressed up for me," she breathed gently, and he chuckled, the sound like music to Bella's ears. God, how she'd missed him.

"You didn't either," he told her, and she glanced down, blushing when she remembered she was in only her underwear and bra.

Bella threw her arms around Edward's neck, and he carried her to the bed swiftly, pressing his lips insistently to hers, only stopping for breath and to tell her he'd missed her. Edward kicked off his shoes as he laid her down, crawling up next to her, pulling the blanket over them both. His skin was cold from the time he'd spent outside. But at least he wasn't wet. He'd always been wet climbing into bed with her when they were teenagers- it rained constantly in Forks, the tiny village they'd grown up in.

Now, Bella lived about twenty minutes outside of Seattle, far enough off the highway to be free of the constant noise it made.

"Edward," she gasped, "How did you find me?"

He sat up, one leg folded beneath the other, which dangled off the side of the bed.

He smiled at her, one edge of his lips pulled up farther than the other; Bella's heart had apparently just been informed of a sale at JC Penny's- it was moving faster than it _ever_ had.

"I ran into Rosalie and Jasper in Seattle. He let me know. Good thing, too. I would have headed all the way to Forks for nothing."

Bella smiled, throwing her arms once more around his neck. His heart drummed against his chest, where she had pressed her ear, the slow rhythm seeming as lazy as his lopsided grin, and his hands making circles on her back.

She sighed, "I'm so glad Jasper had a change of heart about us... I wouldn't have thought he would tell you."

"No?" Edward asked, chuckling again, at some joke Bella didn't think she got. "Well, Jasper's a good guy... His _heart_ is in just the right place."

"Mhm," Bella agreed, then wondered aloud, giggling, "And what place is that?"

Edward hesitated only a moment before answering, "With his sister. Just like her heart is with him. He would do anything for her, you know. They definitely... _belong _together, have you noticed?"

Bella had a sudden image of Rosalie and Jasper, their almost identical faces both stretched in smiles, the warm Texan sun colouring their skin the way it had before they'd moved to rainy Washington, their hands reaching out for each other, cradling something shaped like a heart.

She laughed. "Yes, yes, I've noticed."

"You know, Bella," he all but purred in her ear, "We do, too. Belong together."

Bella shuddered in pleasure as much as in remembered agony of the years wasted. "Yes."

It came out as a breathless mumble, and Edward kissed her cheek, whispering softly, "But you're tired. Perhaps a nap would do you well."

"I don't want to sleep," Bella argued feebly.

Edward hummed in her ear, a lullaby she remembered so distantly, yet so strongly... and she fell into a darkness brighter than anything she'd felt in years.


	4. Chapter 4

Part IV.

Jasper and Rosalie were kneeling in the sun, a lush meadow spread out around them, tall wheat waving in the wind, two images of perfection, he in faded jeans and a wife beater, she a simple cotton sundress. Their tanned faces smiling cheshire grins at each other, unthinking and emotionless. Their hands were extended towards each other, proudly offering their heart for their twin, warm and beautiful. As she watched, a third wheel, an outsider, the heart in Rosalie's hand expanded- just so slightly. When it shrank again to its normal size, the shape had changed.

It was a real heart now, pumping madly, blood spewing onto Jasper's face and onto Rose's white sundress. The two hearts bumped up and down, beating now and shooting pillars of blood. And the twins kept smiling, expressions frozen with time.

Bella woke with a start, sitting up straight in her bed, her heart pounding.

"Bella?"

"Oh, Edward, you're here!"

"Of course."

Only one of the dreams Bella had last night was actually a dream, then- the bad one, thank God.

Edward wrapped his arms comfortingly around Bella, his face pressed to hers. The night air was still, but heavy with something Bella couldn't place.

"Edward, how long was I asleep?"

"Not long," his voice whispered in her ear. "No more than twenty minutes, actually. Did you have a bad dream?"

Bella's lip pulled into a pout. "Yes." She breathed in deeply. "So what time is it?"

"Almost one in the morning."

Bella leaned peacefully back against Edward's chest, grabbing his hands where they sat on her stomach. Her heart slowed, her body relaxed, and Bella thought she had never been more calm.

"I hope we can always be just like this, Bella," Edward said suddenly. "I don't want ever to be disturbed when I'm with you."

Bella smiled, about to agree.

The phone rang shrilly, and she stiffened. "You said it's one in the morning?"

The phone rang again.

"Yes."

They listened for a minute while the ringing continued in the hallway, and finally the messaging machine picked up.

"Bella? It's Emmett, oh God. I... Oh, Bella, I'm sorry, I know it's late. Wake up! _Please, Bella_, I need you. I... I went to see Rose. You know..." Emmett was sobbing. His breath hitched. Edward sighed and disentangled himself from Bella, casually walking into the hallway.

"I couldn't sleep without her. I went to Jasper's, I just had to talk to her. Oh my God, Bella, _Jasper,_ and Rosalie! I don't... Bella, the poli-"

Edward lifted the phone gently off the hook, and Bella heard a click as he set it back down. He seemed to drift back to her, a phantom moving like death. Or an angel. Moving like the light of God.

"Like I said." He grinned crookedly. "We don't need to be disturbed right now."

Bella's heart once more went into a frenzy, and her breath caught in her throat. She realized that she wasn't tired anymore, wasn't relaxed or calm. She didn't want to have a nap, or to lie and chat.

"Edward," she moaned, her tone hungry. He raised his eyebrows and she threw herself onto him, kissing him with all the force she could manage.

Their bodies twisted and entertwined, her legs wrapped around his waist, his knee beneath her, their arms thrown around each other. Bella pushed the navy jacket he was still wearing off of him; something heavy in one of the pockets made a loud thunking noise as it hit the ground, but Bella hardly noticed.

Already she was fumbling with the buttons of his shirt, and his hands were slipping down from where they rested on her shoulder, tracing a thin line with his nails towards her waist. Bella finally had the last button unclasped, and as she opened the shirt she couldn't hold back the gasp, couldn't pull her eyes away.

A massive scar ran down his chest, and he followed her gaze to it. Bella knew he hadn't gotten it from one of his crime sprees. It was from what had happened to him. What it was that made him go... _crazy_ in the first place.

Edward stiffened as she stared, a growl ripping from his throat- the sound was almost animalistic, and his moves were more graceful than she thought possible as he twisted from her embrace and onto the floor.

"Edward!" she cried out, following him, but stumbling on her feet.

She was kneeling before him, a sacrifice offering to some heathen God. Or just a scared little girl who wanted the one she loved to hold her again.

"Edward?" she murmured. "Hey, turn around, look at me."

Edward spun, ducking into a crouch so their eyes were level. His gaze was wild and fierce, his jawline tight and his breathing was heavy.

"Bella," he rasped huskily. "Bella, I love you."

"Edward, I-"

"Bella, I have never wanted anything more in my life than for you to love me back."

"I do, Edward, I-"

"I'm so sorry!" Edward wailed, and tears began spilling down his cheeks.

"What? What for?"

"Everything! I've ruined everything, Bella!" Edward snapped, his voice angry now. His eyes were furious as they stared her down, and if you had enhanced senses you would have heard her arteries dialate to support the extra blood her heart rapidly pushed out, would have smelled the adrenaline coursing through her with her fear. Your eyes might have picked up the deep reddening of her cheek, her face, her shoulders, even in the darkness.

"What are you talking about?" she pressed on bravely, ignoring her instincts. This was Edward, her Edward. The man she loved.

"Bella, don't you see?" he seethed, grabbing her arms and shaking her. "Are you blind to what I've become?"

Edward stood and turned, grabbing the jacket on the floor.

"Edward, no!" Bella shrieked, but he wasn't leaving her. She didn't have to worry about that. He dropped the fabric once more; this time it hit the ground with nothing more than a soft _fop._

"Edward?" Bella stuttered, squeezing her eyes shut against threatening tears, only concerned for him. Only wondering if he was okay. After all, nothing was more important than his safety, his happiness.

Edward swivelled at the sound of her voice, and a cool presence at the center of her forehead relieved the heat there. Something clicked.

Bella opened her eyes, her next words strangling themselves in her throat as she realized she was staring down a loaded gun.


	5. Chapter 5

Part V.

"I'm a monster," Edward heaved, and the gun scraped against Bella's skin as his arm shook.

"No," she whispered, barely audible to her own ears. She wondered if she even thought the word in the first place, or if it was a ghost of the long ago past.

"Yes." Edward's voice was a desperate wheeze, a sick, frightening sound. "Oh, Bella, I know I've hurt you... and my family."

"_Edward_, please. Listen to reason," Bella begged. Not because of the gun at her face, but because of the sadness in his. She could hardly bear to see him this way.

"And..." Edward's lips trembled. "Jasper and Rose."

The knuckles of Edward's free hand cracked, infusing the almost silent air with anticipation. Tears slipped from pale cheeks and onto the wooden floor, landing with splashes not heard over the ticking of the wall clock.

Bella realized that it wasn't only Edward. She cried, too, her eyes casting wild blurs across the things in front of her. Bella's vision swam like the air in her head.

"I'm no better than them," he mumbled, looking now at his feet. Bella glanced down with him, and noticed, so close now, blood on the hems of his jeans.

She lifted her eyes and gazed at him in confusion. "How can you think that?" she asked of him lightly. "Those people are hardly people. What they did to you–"

"Are exactly the things I've done, Bella... I've killed. And tortured. I– I don't want to be in someone's nightmares the way they are in mine."

"Oh, Edward, it's okay. After the things you've been through..."

"That's no excuse. Bella, people shouldn't have to live in pain." The gun pressed further into her forehead, and she squirmed, pushing herself against and towards it– closer to Edward, always closer to Edward.

"Yet so many do. Because of me. And so many don't live at all. I've hurt more people than I can count. People I don't even know." Edward breathed in deeply, as if to regain his composure– except that he only seemed to be falling further apart. "But most importantly, and worst of all, I've hurt the ones I love."

"Edward, what's happened in the past doesn't affect the way I feel for you. I'll love you forever. Despite everything that's happened."

"You shouldn't have to! I shouldn't have–" Edward faltered, and the hand at his side stretched out to Bella's face. He caressed her cheek gently but firmly. He flexed his fingers, and his joints crackled near her ears.

"I've hurt you, Bella."

"I love you," she told him shakily, full lower lip drawing up above her other.

"Oh, sweetheart, I know I'm the one making you cry–"

"Not for the reason you think."

"Believe me, Bella!" Edward spat at her, suddenly harsh, his eyes feverish and crazed. "I would do anything to reverse this."

"Edward?" Bella hunched her shoulders, wary now of the look on his face.

"I know it's all my fault, baby, but _if I could turn back time_... If I could only change the things I've done..."

Edward really was her soul mate. They only wanted the same thing.

They both wanted the past, Bella thought, crossing her eyes to look directly at the metal above and between them.

_No_, she thought then. _I don't want the past_.

"Edward," she told him then, more firmly than any words she had spoken that night. "You don't need to do that for me."

His face seemed to fold in upon itself, his features contorting. His voice a horrid blank, he asked, "You don't want to go back to what we had? Don't you miss–"

"I don't miss you, Edward." His fist tightened around the gun. Bella swallowed. "I don't need to. You're right here."

He regarded her cautiously, angrily– and with an immense loneliness Bella could barely comprehend.

"_We don't need the past, Edward_; we could have the future. Together."

His eyebrows pulled together even as he breathed out with relief softening the set of his lips.

"I don't deserve that," Edward muttered finally, lowering the gun to his side as he did.

Bella moved forward by inches, burying her face in his jeans.

"But I need you, Edward. Can't you accept it anyways, for me?"

"Bella. I love you. I don't want you to have to deal with... Like I said, no one should have to live in pain."

"No one," Bella agreed.

Edward's fingers curled around Bella's hair, freezing against her warm skull. There was relative silence amidst their heavy breathing, Edward's teardrops, and always, always that damn–

A blast shattered the air. Bella felt her muscles still, maybe even her heart. She waited for what could have been forever, but a single sound told her was only a second. Edward's hand loosened its grip on her, and slowly his body fell backwards, landing before her spread-eagle, arms out to the side, toes touching her knees, the gun tumbling from his tight grip.

She crawled on top of him, peering horrified into the face she recognized and dreamed about at night. Through his gaping mouth she saw the slick bloody floor, the hole in his bones and his pulverized brain.

Trembling, Bella looked around with vapid eyes. She reached out to touch his warm arm, and let her fingers journey downward to the smoking metal.

No one should have to live in pain. Not even a man who killed hundreds, or the woman he loved. Bella gripped the gun fiercely, snuggling herself into Edward's side.

If a tree falls in a forest, does anyone hear it?

The explosive sound of gunshot and cracking human bones may as well have been the tiniest of clicks.

Clicks like that of the clock on the wall, moving time always forward.


End file.
